Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) has "never adequately addressed" his supporters' online harassment of his critics, according to MSNBC analyst Zerlina Maxwell.
"I think it matters because some of the attacks are very tinged with sexism and racism," Maxwell said Tuesday night on Hardball with Chris Matthews.
"He's never adequately addressed the harassment online that his supporters absolutely are participating in, including some members of his staff," she continued. "And so he needs to get that into check in order to attract new voters to his coalition because there are people that are being harassed, and they're not likely to vote for him when they are the target of harassment."
Maxwell said that she has been personally attacked by Sanders supporters for her criticism of the presidential hopeful. She pointed out that Sanders's support is limited, and that he has not been able to attract new voters to the polls in early states.
"He's going to have to pull from the existing pool of voters or register new ones in time for the upcoming states to grow his coalition," she said.
Daily Beast political editor Sam Stein said he spoke to New Hampshire voters who were considering Sanders but were hesitant because of "the culture around him."
Stein described the culture as a "fandom that borders on angry sometimes."
"He and Elizabeth Warren had that fight over who was saying what about a female running for president," Stein said. "His supporters responded with vitriol. They put snake emojis into everything, they called her a rat, a back stabber. If you're an Elizabeth Warren supporter who is looking for another candidate if she does drop out, that's not a great sell. You don't want to be part of that crap."